Dune 2000 is Westwood's answer to all those strategy fans clamoring for a classic title, in this case Dune II, to be remade for the modern day computer machines. The problem? No one was asking for Dune II (Trivia: What are the two most wanted remakes? See bottom for answer). So, what we have is essentially a game that plays like a step backward from Command & Conquer. But it is not all that bad.

In 1992, Westwood Studios’ Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty exposed gamers to the concepts of real-time strategy long before games like Command & Conquer and WarCraft swaggered to the top of the sales charts. Yet in the years since its release, the wheels of progress haven’t stopped turning, and were you to pick up a copy today, Dune II would seem little more than an collectable oddity with a clunky interface and coarse graphics. Unfortunately, Westwood’s attempt to remake the classic for a new generation suffers from the same fate due to its dated visuals and overly familiar gameplay.

Unless you are an avid Dune fan, I would not recommend purchasing this game. Some very good work was put into upgrading the original Dune II, but since Westwood based Dune 2000 on the older Command & Conquer engine, Dune 2000 was outdated the day it was released. I will probably dust this game off later this year and replay it to see if has the same hook that Dune II had. Other than that, it will sit on my shelf while I spend time with other games. I give Dune 2000 a score of 67. It has some very good points, but the drawbacks keep it from getting a better score.

As it stands, DUNE 2000 may attract fans of the book who are new to real-time strategy games. But experienced gamers, especially those who came up through the ranks of C&C and RED ALERT, won’t quench their thirst for new action in this title.

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The basic problem is that Dune 2000 has nothing to do with Dune. I'd just re-read the book and watched the 4-hour version of the movie (another point for the game - it has better acting than the movie, and makes more sense). The universe of the Dune series is perhaps the richest one out there, and I'd hoped to get some deeper feeling for it from the game. It was very disappointing to find C&C-Dune Alert inside the box.

Once those problems are addressed or fixed, perhaps in the patch, this should prove to be a very an excellent game to play, both alone and over a network. Until then, it is not suggested you grab this title, unless you loved and played Dune 2. If your a game player who'd rather have the newest RTS game, you should look elsewhere.

There are two kinds of people: those who have played Dune II, and those who haven't. Individuals comprising the former category probably retain a fond memory of the game. These, then, are the people for whom Dune 2000 was created. It's a remake of the original, designed to tug at heartstrings with its retouched graphics and sound, and same old gameplay. Dune II combined action and strategy in a famous science fiction setting back in 1993. The formula worked so well that it single-handedly gave rise to a wildly popular gaming genre, much like id Software's Wolfenstein 3D defined the first-person shooter shortly beforehand. Yet neither Dune II nor Wolfenstein withstand the test of time, since so many superior and similar games have emerged since then. For that reason, even those who enjoyed Dune II will find Westwood's remake disappointing, if not distressing.

I’m guessing that there are fans of the Dune 2 game and/or the original movie that are probably wanting to get their hands on this as soon as possible or already have. For those folks, I hope this game isn’t going to be a disappointment. If the story and nostalgia of the game are enough for you, then the gameplay should give you enough to make it worth your while. However, if you’re looking for a new RTS game to buy, there’s a lot of newer stuff out there with better graphics, interface, gameplay, etc. Westwood never intended this game to be anything that new, and the result is really just another C&C game in an era when a lot of us have moved on to other things.

Dune II is a classic, there is no doubt about that but what left a bitter taste in the mouth of people who bought Dune 2000 was the fact that hardly anything had been altered, with the exception of the additional cutscenes. Compared to RTS games that were around in 1999 it looked old and a complete rip-off, especially as it cost £34.99. Westwood Studios had released the classic Red Alert in 1996 and in all honesty Red Alert was a far superior game to Dune 2000. Of course at the low price of £4.99 it doesn't seem a rip-off and RTS completists owe it to themselves to own what is essentially a touched up version of the game that really gave birth to the RTS genre.